Political violence has cost Bangladesh over Tk 490 billion in lost earnings – or 4.7 percent of the Gross National Income – in the first half of the current fiscal year, says a private research organisation.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) also predicted between 5.6 and 5.8 percent growth of the Gross Development Product (GDP) for the current year.
Revealing the findings, bases on reports run by media outlets, it told a press conference on Saturday that Bangladesh had seen 55 days of shutdown and blockade during this period.
The World Bank had predicted 5.7 percent GDP while the International Monetary Organisation had forecast the economy to grow by 5.5 percent, but Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith ruled out their projections.
Muhith stressed that Bangladesh will not achieve less than 6.3 percent GDP growth despite many barriers it has so far faced though the target was set at 7.2 percent in the budget.
CPD Executive Director Dr Mustafizur Rahman presented the review report.
Roads and railways sector, agriculture and agricultural industries sector, textile sector and tourism sector have been most affected.
Of the sectors, the roads and railways ran into the highest losses – Tk 166.89 billion. The agriculture and agricultural industries sector suffered a loss of 158.29 billion.
The export-oriented textile sector counted a loss of Tk 137.5 billion. The tourism sector faced the lowest amount of losses at Tk 7.5 billion.
Dr Rahman said there was potential for higher growth based on public expectations and economic strength but political violence had snuffed out the chances.
“This is now a big challenge for the government to bring back that potentiality.”
The CPD also made four recommendations to quickly accelerate the wheels of Bangladesh’s economy.
The recommendations are –
• Re-fixing the government’s income and expenditure structure on the fast and realistic basis.
• Providing incentive to affected farmers and rural economy
• Imparting help to export-focused industries, affected by political violence
• Remove the policy uncertainty to encourage investment
Political stability, says the CPD report, is a must for increasing investment in Bangladesh.
CPD Distinguished Fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya also took questions from the media. Research Director Fahmida Khatun, among others, was present.
Source; bdnews24
